Wonderland
by StewG
Summary: Artemis is kidnapped, the team doesn't know who, how or why. They investigate, and that means uncovering Artemis' well hidden secrets.
1. Chapter 1

She tried to force her eyes open, but something in her kept clawing them shut. She vaguely felt the ropes and hands that were on her; however the force of her own body slamming into something hard was just as sharp as any other time she had been tossed around by a villain. The darkness that had been fighting her wakefulness finally won as she fell into unconsciousness.

"Pretty, pretty, oh so very pretty..." an odd cackle muttered over and over again finally registered. She groaned slightly, as she began to come to. She her eyes fluttered slightly as she looked at her surroundings. She saw a whimsically large table before her, tea cups, pots and sweets scattered about it. She couldn't help but notice that each of the items on the table seemed to have its own hat. She frowned and continued to look about when she glanced down she felt her skin crawl. Her jeans, jacket and boots were gone and replaced by white stockings, black school girl shoes and a pale blue dress. She recognized the dress from that lone poster that hung in her bedroom. She felt panic begin to set in, what the hell was happening? Why was her hair like this? Why was she dressed like this? Who dressed her?

...What had they done to her in between?

"Welcome, my pretty, to my tea." Her eyes snapped their focus onto the man sitting next to her. She quickly ran her eyes over his lanky form, shivering at the thought of him touching her in any way. Her eyes rested on his large head that had been painted with a wickedly sickening smirk while his beady eyes roamed her body freely underneath a large, green top hat.

"What would this beauties' name be?" He said as his had moved to run his bony gloved hand along her cheek, she tried to pull away but something was stopping her. She stared at him not replying. He seemed to become impatient as his hand went to her neck and found a loose grip there. She felt something foreign make her mouth open, and before she was aware of what was happening, her own voice had come to life.

"Artemis."

She didn't say that. She didn't _want_ to say that. Why had she said that? Why was she just sitting in this over-sized chair, conversing with this creep? The man sighed slightly and began to rub her neck gently. She wanted to rip away from him, everything that was happening just being so _dirty_. He leaned toward her his smile becoming sinister and even sicklier.

"Not any more my precious," He stated, his tongue edging out of him mouth to wet his thin dry lips

"Your name is now Alice."

The team stood solemnly listening to the tall dark man in front of the screen.

"We all know what is wrong. What we don't know is who has her, when or how they got her and we don't know why." He said darkly, gently. He looked at his son, seeing even he was uncomfortable with the situation. "You guys have to start from the beginning and find out where and when she was taken. There have been no sightings and no leads. This means you will be uncovering a lot about her. You must be completely objective about this and try to respect her. Go." Batman said finally. The team stood for another moment, allowing their leader to give directions before heading to the bio-ship in utter silence. Once on the ship, being the blunt and angered one that he was Superboy broke the silence.

"Who would want to take her? No big time villain wants any of us, so who would want her?" He blurted, his protective nature becoming obvious with his anger. The team turned to him, Kaldur nodding in agreement.

"You are right Conner; there are no villains that the Green Arrow has faced with her yet, so I see her disappearance being completely illogical." He said coolly, his concern entirely displayed on his features. Robin chewed on his lip for a moment before sighing deeply. The team turned to him, knowing he knew more about her than anyone else other than Batman.

"I have a couple ideas... but we should investigate first. She has the right to a secret identity, just like all of us." He said looking to each of his teammates. They agreed with the Boy Wonder hesitantly, but continued to their destination "Oh, and M'gann, head to Gotham. That's where we need to start." He said. The team looked at him confused, but the girl martian no less began to head to Gotham.

"Why are we going to Gotham, Robin? She's Green arrow's niece; shouldn't she be in Star City?" M'gann questioned, directing her living friend to their destination. Robin inhaled slowly, remembering the lie that Artemis had told him when they had 'ran into' each other in the alley.

"She told me she was visiting her cousin." He said quickly. The team seemed to buy it, which made Robin relax slightly. However he knew his best friend knew him too well. He glanced back at the redheaded boy, realizing just how quiet he had been the entire time. Wally sat there in his seat, staring at his friend harshly. Robin nodded to him in a way that said 'we'll-talk-later' which was not settling the green-eyed boy at all. He simply grit his teeth and glared at the space beneath him.

This couldn't be happening again. He couldn't be losing her again. She seriously couldn't be out of his life again. After the exercise and therapy sessions with Black Canary, Wally had realized that he cared for Artemis. She was important to the team, and to their family unit they had formed. That's why he reacted so strongly. He didn't want anything else around him ruined, that's it, right? That had to be right. He felt himself become rigid as she thought about anyone harming her, going near her doing anything she didn't like. He fell into a personal mantra of begging for her to be alright.

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><p>So, yeah, this is obviously dark. I'm not sure if this will end up as M or stay T. Feedback would be welcome.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the second chapter! I hope it's alright. And hopefully there will be somethings cleared up. A couple people are assuming a lot of stuff and I don't even know what's gonna happen for sure myself. But please, enjoy!

Why was she smiling? Why was she sitting in this creep's lap? Why was she drinking and eating out of his hands like a well trained dog? She was absolutely horrified with herself. She wanted to clock the man that kept running his hands up and down her back. She didn't want this, she didn't like it, so why on earth was she letting him do this? He placed a hand on her cheek, staring deeply into her, violating her with just his eyes. Artemis felt disgust causing her stomach to become knotted.

"My you are strong willed..." He said as he began toying with her long blonde hair, which he had curled and combed into looking like a dolls.

"Keep that up and you'll find yourself killed." He said darkly, before she felt his mouth on her neck. That moment, she knew she was powerless. She knew she was powerless to him, because if she couldn't break free from him now she wouldn't be able to later. His tongue felt like slime on her, as his teeth nipped at her, knowing they would leave marks. She didn't understand why she couldn't do anything about what has happening but she still tried. He pulled away from her, a trail of saliva still connecting her to his filthy mouth. He smiled at her wickedly,

"You're so intoxicating, I don't know if I can keep waiting." He said lifting her and sitting her back in her own chair. She felt a small amount of relief wash over her as he pulled away from her.

"Don't worry my dear, I will later be here. Play time is over sadly, and I will miss you madly." He placed a kiss on her forehead and tied her back to the chair securely. He then took a tea cup and placed it to her lips; she drank it fluidly, but not willingly. He placed the cup back and hopped down from the gigantic chair and left her to fall into darkness again. He wandered away from his little doll, letting her rest and allowing to

**The Team**

"How do you know she's living in Gotham now?" Kid demanded when Robin and he had made some space between the rest of the team. "And don't bother lying to me Dick, I know when you lie better than anyone else. Well not Bats... But still!" Robin sighed and narrowed his eyes at the ground behind his domino mask.

"Cause she's going to my school now. She's not Green Arrow's niece, as if that wasn't obvious." The dark haired boy said looking at his friend. Wally's mouth pressed into a firm line, his eyes narrowing while analyzing his friend.

"Should we look at the school then?" Wally asked, clenching his fists. His concern was affecting his personality again, and Robin couldn't help but feel sorry from his friend, his brother. He was hurting, even though he didn't know why.

"I didn't see her at lunch today, but we run in completely different circles. I can check if she even made it to school today, and which classes she went to." Robin said, as a glowing screen popped up before him from his wrist. Robin typed for moments, accessing the school's highly advanced security field wifi and quickly hacking through to the attendance records. "It looks like she went to every class and was in the gym for lunch. And it says here she stayed after school with the archery team, no surprises there. The coach also took note that she stayed back for _two hours_ after that practice. Damn, what was she doing?" Robin questioned rhetorically, however he kept typing and analyzing the glowing screen before him. "It looks like she left the school by seven thirty." Robin stated, looking to his friend. The freckle faced of the two allowed his head to loll to the side in thought.

"She was probably training. She's not trained by the Batman and not a superhuman, and she thinks she's only here as a replacement for Speedy... er... Red Arrow." Wally thought aloud, Robin eyeing him oddly. Wally put his hands up defensively. "Well that's what I would do!" Robin simply nodded and looked to the rest of the team.

"Hey guys, we, uh, figured out that she couldn't have been taken until after 7:30." He said realizing the questions that would be raised. They looked back to him, confusion obvious.

"Alright, where do we go from there?" Kaldur said, before anyone questioned Robin's reasoning. Robin rubbed the back of his head before looking at Wally with a slightly worried expression.

"We need to go to where she's staying here." He said slowly. The others looked at him carefully, before Wally interjected quickly,

"Maybe we should split up, half of us go on the town searching for any possibilities and the rest to where Artemis was staying." Kaldur crossed his arms and nodded curtly in agreement. He turned to Miss Martian and Superboy

"You two will accompany going around the city, while Kid and Robin investigate. We need to maintain Artemis' privacy as much as possible. Miss Martian, please establish a link." The green skinned girl quickly accessed each of their minds and nodded to Kaldur.

'_Let's go.'_ He said to them, and they all splintered away, Robin on Kid Flash's back.

**Artemis**

He was back, with this tiny and small little girl. She was asleep, with tear stained cheeks and her nose still running. She was still in her pyjamas, a night dress any girl would wear under the age of five. The nightie was pink, with a picture of a girl that looked exactly like Artemis, a girl with a china doll face and blonde hair falling like silk around her. He went to the older girl and untied her, as he did so her eyes began to flutter open. Artemis came to full consciousness when he went back to the other girl.

"Alice, please take our little rabbit and put her in her costume. Then our game shall resume." Artemis' feet moved on their own as they carried her to the two. The man handed her a complicated, high quality costume. Artemis picked up the child carefully, holding her as if she were the most delicate object on the planet. He simply waved his hand and she was turning around and taking the girl somewhere. She didn't even know what was going. How was this happening? Artemis looked down at the little girl, who was just starting to wake up. She had a small mouth, and was chewing on her lip slightly. Just above her mouth was a small, pert and button-like nose. Her feathery brown hair was short, in a wavy bob-like cut and as she opened her eyes Artemis could see large chocolate brown irises peering up at her in fear. She seemed confused and scared, but she barely moved, she didn't even start crying. Artemis felt an over flow of confusion.

'_Why isn't she crying?'_ she thought, a frown that deepened inwardly didn't present itself on her face. She found herself in a different room, and she was putting the girl down. How was this happening to her? No, how was this happening to them? Artemis knew that any normal little girl would be crying their eyes out, screaming to go home. Something was controlling her. Something was controlling **them**. Artemis realized she had changed the girl into an adorable costume, her body, arms and legs covered in a fuzzy material that made it look like the girl had fur. There was a small vest hanging off of her and a pair of long ears a top of her head. There was a rather realistic tail hanging of the girls back as well. Artemis placed the whiskers on her cheeks and found herself fumbling with a make-up kit. She painted the girls face to look more creature like, and there before her was an adorable rabbit.

'_Why is this happening to us?'_

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><p>Please let me know what you think! :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Alrighty guys! I hope this one's good! Please review, honestly the more you guys bug me the more i write. :P

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><p>Robin slid the window up slowly, glancing at his friend. He could see he was nervous with the way he kept fidgeting and glancing around the alley way. The smaller boy reached to the fastest boy alive and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.<p>

'_We need to... to save her,'_ the boy wonder reminded him, and he swept into their teammates room, in her civilian home. Kid Flash slipped in shortly, breathing deeply. Robin had already started looking through the books on the selves about the room. He scanned scarcely over the titles and authors nodding in approval subconsciously at most of them. He found a nameless and small book. A simple black cover surrounded black pages, and it was well used to say the least. The pages inside had curled from constant turning and bending and fiddling. Robin opened up the book to the first page, and glanced at the heading that had been carefully but still crudely written out;

**Diary, Keep Out**

Robin chewed his lip, and glanced slightly back at his teammate, who was too busy looking at the sparing pictures around the room. He put the book back quickly and resumed glancing around, when he noticed a small framed photo. He picked it up, seeing a woman in a wheelchair with raven black hair and dark, hard eyes. They were barely softened by the half smile that was on her face as she stared at the camera, Artemis had an arm draped round the woman and a slight smile on her face. The bird noted that Artemis was younger in this picture, maybe his age or so. However his main focus was on the woman in the chair. Robin immediately recognized her, and the etching of 'Mom' in the frame only made his thoughts confirmed.

'_That's Huntress...'_ Robin spun around almost dropping the picture in his hands. Kid Flash stood behind him, his hands clenched into fists and eyes staring hard at his friend. Robin hung his head for a moment and nodded his head as he put the picture back in its place. Robin looked at his friend, to see he was absolutely fuming. _'If her mother is Huntress, aka Mrs. Menace that means...'_ Robin held his hand up to the other.

'_She's our friend, teammate and saved us all from the reds. We owe her our lives, let alone our trust. We need to let her explain on her own terms.'_ The boy wonder thought to his friend. The red head looked at him, his anger dying almost instantly, and he seemed almost ashamed of his anger. He looked to Robin in a way that was apologetic as Robin simply nodded to him with a slight smile. The two carried on searching the girl's room. There was a long creak that became audible and the two froze for a moment, both of their heads wrenching to look at the door. The silhouette at the door was that of the woman in the photograph that they were examining only moments ago. She stared at them for long a long moment, only to narrow her eyes on them.

"She's not here, she didn't get home last night. You won't find any clues here either; she makes her living here sparse." She said coldly, but the two could also feel the hurt that was underlying every syllable. Robin maintained a mask of no emotion, but Kid allowed a fraction of sympathy to cross his face as she spoke. She wheeled in, her eyes locked on the picture of herself and a young Artemis in her arms. She inhaled slowly and looked at the floor. "She's not with _him_ either. He doesn't want her, she doesn't want to be near him. Don't bother looking into the family, she won't want that. Her precious super hero friends knowing what she really is,"

"_**Artemis.**_"

The word came hard and filled with passion. It hit the tension that had been growing much like a stone would to a window, shattering it. The woman's gaze snapped up at the boy harshly, her eyes wide. Wally glared at her, his green eyes becoming glazed with that of anger and pity. The redhead then turned to his teammate and the two nodded to one another, Robin springing out of the window first. The yellow clad boy walked to the window and stared hard at the woman, seeing that she held a defeated look on her face.

"Save her..." She whispered, her voice was like a feather falling slowly and settled between them almost like it wasn't there. The boy only pulled his goggles over his eyes and zipped out the window, a quick breeze being the only trace that was left of them. "Because I can't..." the dark haired woman's glasses fogged as the tears ran down her cheeks. Her hands came up to her face, covering her eyes in shame. Wind came from the window subtly, as she cried.

What she was unaware of was the disappearance of the little black book form the shelf.

**Artemis**

Artemis realized that darkness was only frightening when there was absolutely no light around. When there was a trace of light, the eye could adjust somewhat and allow a person to navigate and locate. With no light, there was no sight. She was blindfolded and they were being moved. His hands were on her too. She wasn't tied up, but she was carrying the little girl she had turned into a rabbit. The little girl that she had only helped get into this situation. They didn't go far, because they had never left the building. Artemis knew this from the way her footsteps bounced back at her, and she had also discovered that they were travelling in a concrete hallway. Artemis felt herself being turned and the sound of her footsteps changed again. She felt his hands move, crawling slowly from her shoulders, along her neck and finally to the blindfold that was over her eyes.

"Surprise, surprise!" He called as he tore the cloth from her face. Artemis was shocked, looking before her to see a perfect rebuild of Alice in Wonderland tea party scene. Her body was moving on its own again as she placed the girl down slowly, and walked over to the table and hopped up to sit on a large chair. The little girl was hopping round to the chair across from her and she hopped up onto the seat and sat looking almost excited, but the look in her eye told Artemis she was feeling quite the opposite. How was he doing this? She had to curse the man, and the probability of metahuman powers that the man possessed. Her eyes widened as she realized who she was captured by.

'_The Mad Hatter_...' she thought as her head turned and she felt her face turn her lips into a broad smile and he reached over and took her hand tenderly. She wanted to cringe, vomit and beat the man to a bloody pulp. This was the Mad Hatter, the notorious kidnapper, and pedophile. She felt a new wave of sickness wash over her as she realized what he intended to do with each of them. With every stroke that his thumb made on her hand the more she wished to wretch her stomach contents on the table before them.

**The Team**

'_Guys, there was a little girl taken earlier,' _Conner's voice filled each of the young team's heads.

'_Conner, I don't think that's relevant right now.' _M'gann responded softly. Each heard the growl that Conner expelled in his thoughts.

'_Anything could be linked at this point M'gann.' _Kaldur interjected.

'_Lemme see if there have been any escapes or released from Arkham.' _Robin began scanning through codes and such on his holographic screen. The team spent moments in silence, but knowing each other's growing anxiety. After Artemis' home search came up empty, much of their hope had been lost. Robin felt his heart sink at the name that he had dug up.

'_We need to find her now.'_


	4. Chapter 4

It seems in this one there was a lot of Robin and Wally interaction. Bros before ho's my dear readers, no worries though, you all know whats coming.

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><p>The moment those six words left Robin, Kid felt his heart pound harder than ever before, his breath began reaching his lungs in rushed, short gasps. His teeth grit hard and he felt his feet become unsure. He knew he should stop, he knew he should collect his thoughts; he knew he should cam down but he just couldn't. He just kept running, and his legs began pumping faster. He felt the sharpness in Robin's grip and he realized that Robin wasn't able to with stand the speed. Wally finally brought them to a stop, his feet sliding on the slick concrete and he quickly dropped Robin, the boy barely managing to cartwheel gracefully, before Wally slid into and alley and smacked into a wall. He felt as though he was buzzing, gripping at the wall as his gasps continued. He wasn't focusing on anything, however the only thought he kept going back to was;<p>

'_She has to be ok.' _

Robin approached his friend carefully, seeing he was close to being in a maniac state. He placed a hand on his friends shoulder and Wally finally snapped his attention to him. Robin kneeled to the other, and helped the boy up.

"You need to calm down. You're not going to be able to help her like this." Wally looked to his friend with panicked eyes and nodded

'_The Mad Hatter, aka Jarvis Tetch, said to be obsessive-compulsive, Alice and Wonderland as well as hat's being one of his obsessions, and highly delusional. Immature self image, so he identifies more with children. Intelligence level; Genius.' _ Robin read from his screen. He shuddered at the next string of words. He looked up to his friend, who had calmed down significantly. He still held a look of urgency, his heel tapping so quickly it sounded like it was vibrating against the ground. He swallowed dryly.

'_Known pedophile, has been progressing further and further with each victim. Tends to favour blondes...'_ The team seemed to click into Wally's emotional state at that very moment. Their anger, worry and panic fuelled the fire that had set in at that moment.

'_Robin, where is his last known hide out?' _Aqualad's voice sounded sharply, calmly through everyone's head.

'_The amusement park, we should also look to anywhere that's child related.'_ The youngest warned. Although not visible, everyone could just picture Kaldur giving one of his signature sharp and curt nods.

'_Kid, go around the city for other possibilities. Everyone else, get to the park.'_ His voice commanded, the red head flinched at the words.

'_But- I...'_

'_Now.'_

Robin looked to his friend sadly and shrugged, aiming a grapple and shooting it off.

"Sorry Walls..." He said before being lifted off the ground. Wally watched his friend disappear and clenched his fists hard. He felt a snarl curl his lip dangerously, just before he sped off.

**Artemis**

She felt pin pricks just behind the surface of her eyes as they watered, but something kept them from closing. He had her pinned against a fake tree, his hands on her waist and beady, rat-like eyes staring into her. No, he was staring through her. Her arms were around his shoulders, awkwardly, and she was arcing into him. His head dipped down and she felt the sliminess of his mouth on her neck. Artemis cringed, her body doing everything the opposite of what she wanted. When she wanted to snarl, she'd smile. She wanted to scream, she'd mewl. She wanted to punch his _mother fucking light out_, she'd just pull him closer. She felt so unhappy and upset with herself she could feel her skin crawl. His right hand slipped further down from her waist and began massaging her hip while his other hand came up to her neck. His lips moved to her left side as his hand grazed the skin he had just tormented. He reached behind and undid one of the several buttons on her back. Artemis immediately felt fear tear through her body. Her one and only wish was that she could just _shut _her _eyes_ and imagine she was somewhere else, _anywhere _else. Instead, she threw her head back and invited him to mar even more of her neck and now part of her collar bone. She then felt tears roll down her cheeks, as his right hand moved again to grope her.

'_No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...'_

Her mind began the mantra as his hands kept moving, and his lips kept punishing. She could only look at the space that her eyes were forced to look and pray, beg and plead for something to change. The tears kept falling and he moved up to lick them off of her cheeks. He pulled away and from her for a moment to look at her face, before he forced his mouth on hers. His tongue blundered in and pushed her mouth around. Artemis felt her stomach turn dangerously, as this sick man's mouth practically inhaled hers. He assaulted her mouth with the taste of bitter tea. She wanted nothing more than to bite this asshole's tongue off. She wanted to push him away. She wanted to cry her full heart out. She wanted to punch the man's brains out. She wanted to kick him until she felt his bones break. She wanted to see him **die.** The only thing she _did _do though was return the kiss. Nothing could make this better. Even if he were to stop he'd only do it again. Or worse, make _her _do it. He pulled away from her, to glance over her with his lust filled gaze. He took that moment to unbutton a couple more buttons on her back and pulled the dress down, enough for bra-clad chest to be exposed. His eyes widened in utter glee and he hugged her body to his head, his body bent over her possessively. She felt his teeth dragging across her skin and her tears fell faster. She was staring straight up, at the ceiling to see there was a skylight. She looked at the clouds swirling dangerously, and she let herself imagine she was out there, amongst the clouds. Flying away from this, away from her secrets, away from everything...

And then Artemis found herself on the ground, her elbow supporting her as she looked around her. The Hatter was on his back, looking as though he had been flung because of his awkwardness. Atop of him was a black-clad... thing.

"**YOU MOTHER FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! STAY AWAY FROM HER!" **A familiar voice screamed venomously. Artemis felt realization wash over her as she finally linked the pieces together. Wally had the man's collar in one hand as the other reeled back and shot forward with astounding speed, right into the villains face. Artemis felt her body moving, and she launched herself at her saviour.

_What?_

He knocked the boy off Hatter, the pair of them rolling. Artemis was up into a fighting stance, as Wally brought himself up slowly. He looked at her confused, and _hurt_. She was absolutely horrified at what was happening, why was she doing this? The boy stood up, and she leaped at him, her leg swinging out to kick him in his head region. He caught her ankle and stared at her. She tried to say something but the words were withheld in her throat. He looked in her eyes, and saw the pain, the confusion. M'gann flew into the room then, and frowned.

"Get Hatter, I'll deal with Artemis!" She called. Wally looked to the red haired girl and only watched as her eyes glowed, and suddenly Artemis felt herself fall into her mind.

**Wally**

He watched as Artemis and Megan froze, staring at each other. Wally turned to the half conscious man that was only a few feet from him and launched at him. He grabbed the man's collar with both hands shaking him violently.

"Why?" He spat angrily, between the shakes. The man looked at him behind the swelling and blood. He smiled, his teeth disgusting and bloody, dripping over his lip and down his chin. His beady eyes shone as he licked his teeth.

"Her features and face and looks, exactly like the girl from the books." He said in a voice of wonder, a chuckle slipping through. Wally allowed his fist to collide into the man's smile and shook him harder, his teeth gritting and eyes narrowing.

"Like who!"

"Alice Liddell you moronic boy, now unhand me for I am no toy." The man said bringing his hand up to pull the boy off him.

It was then Wally lost it. His fists were a blur as he beat the man, and he slammed the man's head down to the hardwood floor beneath him. He then just kept bashing the man against the floor, well after the man had passed out. Blood was leaking from the man, correction, from his head and face. Wally just kept pounding his fists into the other when suddenly he was a good ten feet away from him, being held back by none other than Superboy.

"Kid, that's enough!" The boy yelled, his rasp entering his voice. Wally still struggled, his eyes fixated on the bloody mass that was once a monster on the ground. Robin landed in front of his friend, and slapped the boy.

"Get a grip man!" He said angrily. He turned from his friend and began checking the villain's vitals. Wally went limp, his exhaustion finally hitting him full on. He was finally set down and just stared and the floor before him. He crumpled and stayed there.

**Artemis**

Artemis looked around, seeing the twisted, dark and ultimately mysterious world around her. She was walking down an uneven hallway, pictures hung crooked along the walls. She took the time to finally peer at one. Her eyes widened as she saw that it was none other than her father staring back at her, his blonde hair peeking out behind his mask, hard hazel eyes staring at her hard from the painting. She stumbled back, falling against another painting, to which she spun to turn around. She saw the mask that belonged to her sister blatantly there. Wild black hair fell around the mask, and Artemis began to feel the two figured falling into the hall.

"Artemis!" a light, carful and worried voice called. The blonde girl snapped her attention to it, to see her teammate.

"M'gann!" She cried, happiness overwhelming her. The martian girl flew towards her, and the two met in a strong hug. Artemis opened her eyes to be staring at the skylight again. She panicked, in fear she had dreamt her rescue up. She sat up startled, reaching for anything. Her hand was caught in a gentle grip, to which she looked to. She looked up and found the green eyes that belonged to none other than the fastest boy alive. Artemis felt the tears well in her eyes and she lunged forward and captured the boy in a long, hard and needy hug. Wally could do nothing but return her embrace with all of his heart.

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><p>:D (P.s. It ain't over bitches.)<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

Hiiiii guys... I know, I took forever. Tis the season! Happy Holidays my friends, I hope this is good.

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><p>Artemis sat on the couch in front of the television of Mount Justice, watching the buzz of white noise. She had realized not long ago why Conner had always left the static going. It drowned out your thoughts, and let you just be.<p>

After Artemis and M'gann came back to reality, Wally had captured her in a hug so quickly she barely had time to blink. She shakily reached and returned his embrace, and the rest of the team could only watch. When Wally pulled back, he almost stumbled away from her, a look of embarrassment on his face. M'gann approached her then, and fixed her dress, in which was still askew. The green girl gave her a soft, quick embrace after and the rest of the guys surrounded her, Kaldur and robin with reassuring and gentle hands on her back and shoulder. Conner only looked at the interactions clenching and unclenching his hands. The League had come then, Green Arrow came to her, the team dispersing, allowing the man to grip her shoulders to look her over and bring her into a hug. Black Canary had went to the little girl, who had still been unconscious from Hatter drugging her. She took the girl to the hospital immediately and it was determined she was unharmed. Batman checked the bloody mass of a person that was the Hatter. He gave Wally a stern look when everyone turned to look at him, and Wally only looked back at the detective with a look that said **you would have done the same**. The team then left the building, and Artemis kept herself hidden behind Green Arrow. He wrapped a blanket around her, and kept her under his wing the entire trip back to Mount Justice.

Everyone had made efforts to console her. Green Arrow had stopped by, and she could see the distress he had been through. The amount of relief on his face was enormous when he had seen her awake, and physically ok. He still worried about her though, she was his protégée. Kaldur was reassuring, telling her all the details of the Hatter's arrest and his maximum security stay at Arkam. How Batman had almost lost it on the villain, Artemis had almost laughed at that. Bats was a protective one, she knew, but she never thought he would give a crap about _her._ Conner had made sure to keep his eye on her, from a distance. She knew that his non verbal, non physical comfort was the best he could do. He remained at bay, but she was never out of his sight, except for bathroom breaks and sleep. Robin had made attempts to talk to her trying to get her to smile. He normally ended up talking to her about absolutely nothing, knowing that she needed to come to terms with her trauma on her own. She couldn't have been more thankful to her friends for knowing her enough to leave her alone with exactly what had happened. M'gann approached her more often than not with platters of baking and sweets, all of which Artemis refused. She had been gentle, but after what had taken place the blonde girl never wanted anything like that again. The martian didn't know that Hatter had force fed her tea and cake for almost a week.

_Almost a week_.

"More like eternity..." Artemis hadn't realized the words that slipped from her until she felt something move against the couch. She had taken the liberty to stretch her legs length wise along the couch, with her shoulders resting on the arm rest, and she found that none other than Wally West had taken to sit on the floor leaning against the sofa. His arms propped up on the edge, he looked at the snow like state of the television and then to her. She knew she was sunk that moment. Wally was, in the first place, the type of person that wanted to know everything. Already a huge obstacle in avoiding the dreaded conversation that had to take place. What made matters worse, though, was Wally had _seen_ what that creep had done to her. He had not only seen, but he had saved her from something that was inevitably worse. She owed him everything, and she knew that if he had simply asked she would crack. But all he did was look into her eyes, and she felt her heart beginning to skip beats. Her brows furrowed and her eyes wanted to water. She looked away from him, back to the static.

"Would you like me to fix it?"

Artemis shut her eyes. _**Yes**_. Fix this, fix her heart, fix her mind, and fix what had happened. Make it all better. Make everything bad go away and stay there. Make every touch he had laid on her never have happened. Make every time he made her let him kiss her non-existent. Make the fact she had kissed him back be an absolutely obliterated thought. The archer girl felt the tears slip then.

"Artemis?" Wally asked alarmed, he leaped to his feet, facing her and gripped her shoulders gently. She looked at him, her eyes only wanting to squeeze shut then. He was worried. He was panicked.

She couldn't say a word.

Then, he took her hands in one of his, the other cupping her cheek. He leaned in and kissed her cheek. She froze. She stared at him in utter disbelief. Kid Mouth had just kissed her. Her cheek, yes, but had still kissed her.

"Wally... " She breathed. She stared up at him with wide eyes, lips parted and a flush growing more and more noticeable every second. He looked down at her, his eyes pleading and hopeful as he breathed deeply.

"Artemis, you have no idea how badly I want to kill that man. You have no clue how much of myself it took not to. I have no idea why I want him dead so badly. You are my teammate, and friend. Of course it makes sense to hate that man, but I loathe him. I want to see the look of pure fear in his eyes when he sees me. Because he hurt you. He hurt you in ways I cannot even imagine, let alone remedy. I want what had happened to be a bad dream. It isn't. Why. Why do I want all of this so badly?" Wally allowed his gaze to drop from her eyes to her hands in his. His expression lightened instantly. "I want that because you are way more important to me than a friend could ever be." He looked back to her, watching her process the information. He was just glad she hadn't hit him yet. Her hand removed itself from his grip suddenly.

'_Spoke too soon..._ ' Wally closed eyes and waited for impact. Contact was made, but far from his expectation. Her mouth brushed his gently, softly, a way that was just not Artemis at all. Wally felt his heart warp slightly in sadness when her fingers found their way into his red hair and locked in. Everything just _clicked_ then. It was like Artemis was plugged in as she sparked to life against him. She moved forward as she demanded his mouth. All Wally could do was allow her to manipulate the situation, as his arms wound around her waist protectively. The blanket that had once draped across the archer was kicked away, as her toned legs curled around the boy slightly closer to her. She finally decided to bring the kiss to a deeper level as her tongue swiped at his lips in small strokes. He complied to her. Artemis couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of control. Her control. She couldn't get enough. She drew back from him, he looked at her, his mind fuzzy. She could tell just how drunk he seemed off of her, his eyes were so heavy in happiness and warmth. He looked into her eyes though, and through his fog, he saw it. Her spark, her flame, and her fire. She was back. His spitfire was back, if even for the moment. If this is what it took for her to be back, Wally was more than happy to help her. They stared into eachotehr for a moment more, and then were once again lost in each others lips.

Wally pulled away from her abruptly. She frowned, confused. Wally only looked at her with a slightly saddened look. He pulled a small black book from the waist band of his pants, and looked from the book back to the girl before him.

"Artemis... We cannot have anymore secrets."


End file.
